Counsel Faults Agitation For More States

A Port Harcourt based lawyer and
human rights crusader, Barr Jackson Assor, has said that the advocacy for
creation of States without the entrenchment of true federalism is a moonshine.

Barr Assor, who stated this at the weekend in Port
Harcourt expressed regret that many regions were advocating for more States
under the skewed Nigerian federation.

He stated that a situation, where states in the
federation are created at the expense of the revenue producing states was
unhealthy.

The Port Harcourt lawyer said there was no necessity for
the creation of more states under the present arrangement, where all the states
in the federation depend on the oil revenue generated in the Niger Delta
region.

According to him, “What exists in this country today is
a parasitic associations of states and the dependency of states on the oil
revenue generated in the Delta region is so overwhelming that it cannot
accommodate any more burden.”

He said states could not be created to suit the whims
and caprices of power brokers and their allies.

Barr Assor noted that states were only created if they
were able to stand on their own. He pointed out that states to be created must
have the where withal to sustain itself.

The Port Harcourt based lawyer said that the present
system where states depend on the centre was uncalled for.

He said for states to be created the primary reason was
its sustainability, and noted that any state that could not sustain itself
should never be created.

Barr Assor remarked that the derivation principle during
the early post independence was by far better than the present arrangement.

He noted that during the reign of Late Tafewa Balewa,
federating regions paid taxes to the federal government.

He said that arrangement had allowed regions to
develop at their different paces and lamented that the present system had
hindered development.